Just what is Social CRM anyway?

March 24, 2010 lalachad 23 comments

A little over 6 months ago, I stumbled upon the #scrm adhoc community on twitter composed of an excited bunch of very intelligent individuals who are passionate about customers. So passionate, that on a daily basis new blog posts emerged with varying definitions of  Social CRM and all of them couldn’t wait to go leave a comment with their interpretation of what Social CRM was, which lead to more posts with their take on the subject, and so on and so forth.  The great thing about this is that it helped move the conversation forward and onto more productive discussions: actual use cases of Social CRM.

Truthfully, as I would read and follow these conversations, I thought I understood. But once, I walked away, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what Social CRM really was and how it was different from traditional CRM and how it was possibly (depending on who you talk to) just an additional channel or something entirely different.  I struggled with the debate of whether Enterprise 2.0 was the internal strategy and Social CRM was the external strategy, vs. Enterprise 2.0 being the parent and Social CRM being one of the many children of an Enterprise 2.0 strategy.

Deep breath.

So here we are today and if you ask me to define Social CRM, I’m still unsure because it still feels as though there is still a lot of debate over what the “social” implies. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.

The purpose of this post is not to stir the pot, but I did want to address a recent debate over a simplified Social CRM definition. Being confused about the subject, I can certainly appreciate someone trying to simplify something that up until now still isn’t clear to me.  So I can understand why the author tried.

The problem is:

1. It is too premature to generalize or simplify the definition, since even the people that are in the Social CRM business don’t necessarily agree over what the “social” implies (though they are getting much closer!).

2.  The definition in question for Social CRM is IMHO more of a definition for Social Media Marketing (SMM).  Now, maybe that’s where I’m confused… and it’s probably thanks to the word “social”: Could SMM be a subset strategy in your Social CRM strategy? What do you think? Am I completely off track?

3. The definition in question implies that Social CRM and CRM are fundamentally different. Ok so from a recent post by Wim Rampen in response to said definition, I get that the Social implies a shift where we place the customer at the center of our strategy, and that this makes Social CRM approach different from traditional CRM. BUT… and this is my understanding… Social CRM still includes elements of traditional CRM, otherwise why would you even consider keeping CRM in your new name? It just doesn’t make sense to me. So my understanding: Social CRM is not different from traditional CRM but they have a different approach.

As you can see, I’m in need of clarification and guidance on the subject. So if you can enlighten me, I would really appreciate it.  A note of caution: I don’t mean to re-open the subject of definitions.  I agree it is time to move forward and apply the concepts or explain how the concepts are to be applied.  In any case, I’d be more enlightened by examples than definitions. :)

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Companies that block social media sites: to boycott or not?

March 21, 2010 lalachad 2 comments

A while back I blogged about companies that block social media sites and how it was counter productive since most employees were able to access those same sites via their smart phones.

Recently, I came across a vblog (via twitter) to pledge a boycott against companies that block social media sites. My initial thought was YES!  I pledge.  But after a bit of thinking, I wonder of it isn’t a bit harsh to “boycott”?

After all, boycotting  is usually reserved for companies that employ unethical practices. I don’t believe companies that block are intentionally being malicious but actually suffer from ignorance.  If you watch Justin’s video, I completely agree with everything he says, I just don’t know that boycotting is the answer.  It feels almost like an extreme response to an extreme practice of blocking. 

To make sure we all understand what I’m saying: I don’t support blocking. I have felt the effects on my productivity as a direct result from this practice. 

I believe that education is the answer. I know it sounds idealistic and utopic but  actually, if you read some of the comments in the vBlog, Justin himself recounts a story where he saved his client some money through the use of social media. This is the form of education that will work.  Companies need to be convinced and the best way is to show them how it will benefit them in their specific context.

And for the laggards, as more and more organizations unblock and people (consultants, employees, management, executives) do their part of showing the benefits of social media to these various companies, they will slowly come around. Change takes time and it has always been to some varying degree the same pattern. See Everett M. Rogers innovation/adoption curve though I quite like Chasm Institute’s version).

Sadly, as long as blockers don’t see some kind of direct result on their bottom line, many won’t make a move. That’s why it is important to emphasize education since many of the benefits are hard to calculate in terms of profit.  See Dion Hinchcliffe’s very insightful entry on Determining the ROI of Enterprise 2.0.

One great way to convince them is to show them what their competitors are doing in the social media space. After all, the longer they wait, the longer their competitors are using the space to interact with customers or enrich their employees.

Some companies will argue that its a matter of security. They fear that sensitive information will be leaked on social media sites. So in other words, they don’t trust their employees.  Interestingly, the US Army lifted the ban on social media sites last year and then retracted it due to security headaches.  But still, they tried! Is that not a great example of an attempt at trust?  

On a positive note, I applaud the French army.  The French army allows the use of social media sites as long as the social media policy is respected.  The French army enforces training and regularly reminds the soldiers on appropriate use. But so far, no words on security headaches. I wonder if the US Military could learn something from the French Military? Surely the French are just as susceptible to virus’ and trojans as we all are. So what’s their secret?

So as you can see, there is hope. We don’t necessarily need a boycott. We need trust and education. I welcome any thoughts on this.

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New Discovery: Mind-mapping

December 18, 2009 lalachad Leave a comment

I recently made the discovery of mind-mapping thanks to some coworkers and don’t get how I could have functioned all these years without this very valuable technique. I’ve always been a doodler and often prefer to jot thoughts down by hand before transcribing them, but I never really had a method for doing it and for structuring my thoughts. So, it may be old news to you, but its a revelation to me. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I finally have a way to thoroughly spit out every thought that goes through my head centered around a specific topic and then once I’ve got everything off my chest, I can now structure it so that it can make sense. I can even take the inapplicable stuff and categorize it as “not the point” or “maybe another day”. Once complete, the mind map becomes the outline to anything you can imagine: a written essay, a drawing, a business plan, a problem, a brainstorming session, etc.

The Technique

So apparently, mind mapping has existed for centuries and is quite a well-known technique.  So one question: why am I only finding out about this now? Better late than never I suppose.  So what is mind mapping?  The basic idea is that you put the main topic/word in the middle and then you add branches as new related thoughts pop into your head.

A drawn mind map can end up looking like this (courtesy of http://www.aranyadesigns.co.uk):

Mind mapping is a technique that allows you to think creatively in a non-linear manner and without censoring. For example, we often have a hard time to begin writing because we spend too much time re-reading ourselves, correcting ourselves, making sure everything is “perfect”, only to end up with something that isn’t quite as clear as we would have wished. With mind-mapping, you don’t have to worry about that. You can write anything you want even if it is the most pointless unrelated thing. You worry about editing later if you need to edit. Some mind maps are not meant to be edited. It depends what your purpose is.

The Tools

You don’t need more than your brain, a pen and a sheet of paper to draw a mind map, but there are many online mind mapping tools available. The advantage of these online tools is that they permit you to easily re-structure and move around thoughts (without having to re-draw) as well as easily collaborate on a mind map concurrently.  I haven’t tried many but have been recommended to use MindMeister and so far have been very satisfied (it is not free but there is a free trial with a 6 map maximum).

Conclusion

I have just started mind mapping and have yet to develop this skill. Like all things, practice is key. The more you mind map the better you get at it.  I strongly suggest it to everyone. It can be applied to virtually anything. To get started, I recommend reading Tony Buzan.  Buzan claims to be the inventor of Mind Maps.  I don’t know about that but will give credit to this site which has lots of examples: http://www.buzanworld.com/Mind_Maps.htm

Happy Mind Mapping!!

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The Irritating Practice of Blocking Social Media Sites

October 25, 2009 lalachad 1 comment

This isn’t anything new but it is a source of frustration for me…

Recently, I came across several articles quoting how the UK is losing over £1bn due to employees wasting time on social networking sites like facebook and twitter and goes on to say that these people spend roughly an hour a day surfing these sites.  The problem with statements like these is that they go on the premise that those same employees would not be wasting an hour a day if they did not have access to these Web sites and that these employees actually work 8 hours straight with no down time.  It simply isn’t realistic. 

Everyone needs down time. It’s impossible to be 100% focused all day. People need breaks whether it is spent on a chit chat by the coffee machine with a coworker, a stroll outside, a phone call, or even reading a personal email. I’m willing to bet that at the end of the day, if you tally up all our “small” breaks it would add up to more than an hour.

Yet for some reason, and maybe its because companies are able to tangibly measure time spent on specific sites, companies are blaming loss of productivity on social networking sites.  Some companies go as far as blocking sites that contain social media but they don’t block anything else (thankfully) presumably because we wouldn’t be able to get any work done if we didn’t have access to our phone, our email or other Internet sites.

Some companies go as far as blocking sites that contain social media

At the Webcom conference in Montreal on October 22nd, Shel Holtz’ presentations (“Tactical Transparency: The Value of Access to Information” and “Your employees are your brand!“) while about much more, touched on the subject of blocking social media sites.  Shel Holtz said that the message you send to your employees when you block these sites is: “We don’t trust you” and I nearly laughed out loud when he said this: ”They’re accessing it from their iPhones anyway”. Yep! That’s me!

Why aren’t your employees working?

Someone who isn’t productive in your company won’t be much more productive if you block access to social networking sites.  They’ll find something else to distract themselves with.  Why must you treat them like school children? If they don’t produce then fire them. It may sound harsh but everyone is responsible for their own work and deadlines.  If we “slack off”, then we need to assume the consequences. This is about earning a salary for work we do.  This has nothing to do with social networking sites. At the end of the day, if we do great work and deliver on time, what does it matter how we spend our down time? And furthermore, maybe not all, but many of us signed an Internet Usage Policy so we should all be reasonable with our usage.

Internet Usage Policy?

There is nothing wrong with an Internet usage policy. It outlines what is expected of the employee in regards to the use of the Internet.  Usually this means that employees shouldn’t use the Internet for personal reasons or allows them to do so but during lunch hours or other breaks.  In any case, social networking sites are Internet sites so we should all logically understand that the Internet usage policy applies to those sites as well. It should be enough to simply communicate the policy on a regular basis. Employees should be mature enough to respect it and only visit those social networking sites for work-related reasons (because believe it or not, more and more people do!).

It’s Time for Change: Stop Blocking!

I remember a little over 2 years ago when the Canadian government began to block social networking sites claiming loss of productivity (taxpayers dollars).  This is a snowball effect: once one company or entity does it, other companies follow suit.  Can you imagine what executives must have thought when they heard the Canadian Government banned social networking sites? 

To be fair a lot of the blocking started when it wasn’t clear how Web 2.0 could be exploited in the enterprise and when it really seemed to only be used in a very social way. These days we’re seeing a real potential for Web 2.0 in the Enterprise and there are many case studies popping up showing the successful use (ROI) of social media in a business context.

There are movements pushing for the unblocking of such sites.  Stel Holtz started a campaign StopBlocking.org. He also mentions a blog by “The Government of Canada 2.0” (not the government) that is trying to help Government employees get unblocked.

There are more and more good arguments being made by credible sources for the unblocking of such sites.  Last week, at the Gartner Symposium, analysts analysts argued “that corporate computing departments shouldn’t block social networking and that security shouldn’t completely lock down communications with the outside world” and that “banning access to social media from the corporate network is futile [...] The world we live in is digitally enabled and socially connected.” (From: Gartner: Loosen up on social networks, security)

Its time to face it whether we like it or not, know it or not, tried it or not, see it as a time-suck or a gold mine… social networking is here to stay so why not exploit it? While easier said than done (I realize), we need to change the way we think and trust our employees. So let us lead by example!  Let us take the first steps and write up (or review) those policies and unblock those sites.

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